Whose Ass is Ari covering now?

He's baaaaacccckkkk....

Ari has returned to clear up the situation. Hmmmmm...

According to Editor & Publisher (who btw has really been on top of this issue), Ari had concerns about Gannon but those were assuaged by the Texas Republican who ran GOPUSA and Talon:

"I found out that he worked for a GOP site, and I didn't think it was my place to call on him because he worked for something that was related to the party," Fleischer said in a phone interview. "He had the editor call me and made the case that they were not related to the Republican Party. He said they used the GOP name for marketing purposes only."

He said he resumed calling on Guckert, who used the alias Jeff Gannon, after Bobby Eberle, owner of both GOPUSA and Talon News, "assured me that they were not part of the Republican Party." Eberle is a Texas Republican activist and served as a delegate to the 2000 Republican National Convention.

Yep, Ari went straight to the source and cleared the whole thing up. But, not exactly:

Fleischer said he did not know much about Guckert and could not recall exactly when he started covering press briefings. He said he played no part in approving Guckert's requests for daily press credentials (which were handled by his office) and could offer no further comment on that.

But he said he did not know at the time that Guckert had been using a false name and did not know if Scott McClellan, now press secretary but then Fleischer's aide, had known then either. "It came as a surprise to me, because I always knew him as Jeff Gannon," he said. Fleischer said he did not know of any other White House reporters using aliases.

He said he did not know the method the White House Press Office used to keep records of those, like Guckert, who received daily press passes. White House Press Office officials did not respond to several requests today for such information.

Ok. So Gannon shows up. And, Ari, you're concerned about him so you call Eberle. You don't ask any questions like "how the hell did he get in here in the first place?" or "who let that guy in?"

Bringing back Ari means the White House is circling the wagons. They are in full spin mode. That means there is more to this story. Ari didn't answer a lot of the questions that needed to be answered. He just gave us the sense that there is more to this story....and the answers lie not with Gannon, but with someone in the White House. For example, McClellan said he knew Gannon used a fake name. How did he know when Ari didn't? Who in the press shop cleared Gannon into the White House? It wasn't Ari, he says.

The plot thickens even more.